


The Raven and The Stone

by The_Order



Series: Canon Companion [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: And Raven Knows it, But the first step is the most important one, Character Study, Coming to terms with past mistakes, Complicated issues don't have simple solutions, F/F, F/M, Fear, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Mentioned Ruby Rose (RWBY), Mentioned Yang Xiao Long, Multi, Past Relationship(s), Post-V5, Raven-centric, Reunions, Self-Reflection, Team STRQ - Freeform, Yang is Summer's Daughter, of sorts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 08:28:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28882440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Order/pseuds/The_Order
Summary: The sunrisen sky and the gentle rolling of the waves were the perfect backdrop to the sole occupant of the gorgeous cliffside.“Hey, pipsqueak,” her voice sounded raw, even to her own ears, “Been a while.”Set immediately after the finale of Volume 5, Raven visits an old friend and makes a decision she should have made twenty years ago. In which Raven reflects on the life she's lead and the regrets she's never allowed herself to acknowledge.
Relationships: Raven Branwen/Summer Rose, Raven Branwen/Summer Rose/Taiyang Xiao Long, Raven Branwen/Taiyang Xiao Long
Series: Canon Companion [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2118153
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	The Raven and The Stone

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote the first draft of this in one sitting and then spent the next three or four weeks tweaking and editing it. Hope you all enjoy!

It was a remarkably clear morning on Patch. The wind was just perfect, blowing across the strait between the mainland and the little island. Cool, Valean air. Raven didn’t even have to do anything to manipulate the weather, it was just perfect as it was.

She flew, fast as a bullet, over the treetops, away from the little cabin Tai still persisted in living in. He’d been a convenient little juncture point to get her here, an anchor for her semblance to grab onto as she shifted to Patch. Nothing else.

Years of her life flashed behind her eyes to accompany the other memories plaguing her. Laughter and tears and conflict and love found in strange ways in strange places. Promises made, to Taiyang, to Summer. Promises broken. It didn’t matter anymore, the ache in her heart was a weakness she needed to grind out.

...Right.

That’s what she’d always told herself.

Now...she didn’t know how to feel. Numb, probably. She was more than familiar with the feeling.

Her wings felt heavy. That feeling, at least, was new. She didn’t know why they suddenly felt so heavy. It wasn’t unusually humid, the wind was perfect under her feathers, the warm air was delightfully floaty, and her muscles were fresh and fast.

But still, she felt far too heavy to fly.

Her boots hit the ground, somewhere in the middle of the forest, an almost entirely un-walked part of the little island, the only place with any Grimm. Though, Beowolf pups hardly counted as Grimm at all. 

Even here, the wind whistled a comforting tune between the trees, carrying with it the smell of pine and oak and fir. Not too dissimilar to the way Mistral’s forests smelled, really.

She wasn’t sure she could call Mistral ‘home’ anymore. 

…

If not there, then where? Where else could she call home?

She felt heavy even on her feet, but she marched on. Forward. She knew where she was, where she was going. Even if it had been many years since she’d stepped foot on this accursed island, the path had been written on her heart.

The wind tugged at her clothes, and she was struck by the sudden, inexplicable urge to feel Patch’s air on her face. Her mask came off almost of it’s own volition, the facade of a bastardized nevermore skull slipped off as easily as any of her other masks. This one was the only one of those she had to take off with her hands, though, that she could hook onto her belt. One of the few she still knew  _ how _ to take off.

The wind tugged at her hair, blowing opposite the direction she walked, but somehow calling her forward into it as well. Like the touch of a lover, or a long-lost friend.

Something lurched in her heart at the thought. Something sharp, like barbed wire. An alien but recently all-too-familiar feeling.

What was she doing? Why the hell was she here? She had a portal anchor back to camp, she could have flashed back there in an instant, given the pack-up order and had the whole camp gone before RWBY could inform any authorities where they were or any of Salem’s cronies could come seeking revenge.

That’s what she should have done, what she could  _ still _ do.

Slowly, over the course of about ten steps, she slowed. Each step just a bit shorter than the last. Then, she stopped.

Why  _ didn’t _ she just leave? She had plenty of aura, she could be back at camp within ten seconds with a bit of focus. Go back to her life hunting across the countryside for unsuspecting merchants and travelers, the clan finding their own way to survive outside of the reach of the kingdoms or Salem. She could feel freedom in her hair again. Just a few seconds, she could be rid of this entrapping place.

Something sparked within her, like flint to pitch, and a sound tore its way through her throat, animal and emotional, it rang out over the treetops and sent birds scattering to the sky. Her hand flew to the hilt of her sword and, without thought, drew it and swung with all her strength at the nearest tree.

The  _ thud _ rattled up her arm and shook the branches from trunk to tip, a small storm of pine needles raining down onto her head and the ground around her. The sword blade was embedded halfway into the trunk, cleaved incompletely through the dense wood. With a snarl, she twisted the hilt, snapping the steel and ejecting the broken tang from the handle.

She left the blade embedded in the tree, sliding Omen’s hilt back into its scabbard, which automatically replaced the broken blade. She didn’t spare another thought for her outburst, storming into the breeze, letting the sound of it fill her mind in the absence of the forest-noise her anger had scared off.

Now, the only sound was the quiet crunching of dead leaves and twigs under her boots.

Her anger slowly began to fade as she moved on in silence, a strange weight around her shoulders she had not felt in...a  _ very _ long time.

_ “You...don’t want to do this,  _ **_Yang_ ** _.” _

_ “Nope. But I’m going to do it anyway.” _

_ “...I...I’m sorry.” _

_ “...Yeah, me too.” _

Her teeth grit, and she stormed forward, hands balled in fists at her sides and head stubbornly forward, marching away from the memories, forcing her mind to quiet, ignoring the dry tears that she still felt on her cheeks.

Onward, into the headwind. East.

Still, the words echoed in her ears. Distantly, forced away and quiet, but there nonetheless, waiting for Raven to drop her guard just like she’d done in that Vault.

Damnit, she’d  _ made _ her choice, why was it still...nagging her? She’d known what she’d had to do, and she’d made the best choice she could have made given the situation. It was in the past, there was no sense in worrying about what she couldn’t change. It. Didn’t. Matter. Anymore.

…

...Right?

Her arms tensed again, and it took all her restraint not to menace another nearby tree. She could feel the energy under her skin, rolling like a boiling sea, ready to be used. Ready to rip the world asunder.

No sense dwelling on failures long past, or even recent ones. They were done and  _ gone _ .

Then why the  _ hell _ did they hurt so godsdamned much?

Her answer came with the parting of the trees and the quiet howling of the wind, cool and comforting like long-forgotten touches on her face and tear-stained cheeks.

The sun was just rising on Vale where it’d been nighttime in Mistral minutes ago, peering over the long-distant mountain ranges and painting the sky as a gorgeous background of pinks and purples and oranges. For a second, Raven forgot all her worries as she gazed at it from the cliffside, the sound of the tide and the smell of the salty air familiar and comforting.

The sunrisen sky and the gentle rolling of the waves were the perfect backdrop to the sole occupant of the gorgeous cliffside.

**_Summer Rose_ **

**_Thus Kindly I Scatter_ **

“Hey, pipsqueak,” her voice sounded raw, even to her own ears, “Been a while.”

The wind brushed gently across her face, her hair fluttering but eyes unmoving. She looked down at the cold stone slab, lips pursing together and heart fluttering. Her throat felt thick, but she forced the words out the same way she would have twenty years ago, “Sorry I haven’t swung by lately, I’ve been busy with...things.”

Years of pillages, raidings, and ransoms flashed behind her eyes, the Clan gorging itself fat on the ill-preparedness of Mistral’s travelers.

The strong live and the weak die, that was just the way the world worked.

She gave a sardonic smile to the stone, “You’d be so fucking dissapointed in me, Summer.”

The wind kissed her forehead kindly, and the distant clouds seemed for a second all the more vibrant in their garments of sunrise.

She laughed, struck suddenly by this...feeling of being small and pathetic, but oddly safe, too, “Who am I kidding, you never blamed me for the way the Clan lived. You’d probably feel sorry for me being mixed up in it.” She felt the urge to step forward and lay a hand on the stone, but something stopped her. Like she’d soil Summer’s grave by touching it.

A tear rolled down her cheek, but she ignored it, pretended she hadn’t noticed, “You were always real stupid like that, always looking for the best in everybody, even when there wasn’t…” she sighed, one hand finding Omen’s hilt, thumb worrying over the cool metal. Her eyes slipped away from the smooth, engraved stone, “...wasn’t anything to find.”

The waves lapped gently at the base of the cliff, wetting the rocks and giving a tangible heartbeat to this quiet cliffside of Patch.

The whole world seemed so still here. No Salem, no Clan, no Ozpin, no secret war. No conflict. Just...peace.

Her free hand balled into a fist at her side.

“I was so... _ jealous _ of you,” she squeezed out, past a knot in her throat, “You always knew what to do, you had this stupid fucking-” her hand came up, curling in front of her chest as if she could grasp the words and pull them into existence, “- _ spark _ in you, and it was beautiful and compelling and- and-” her arm fell slack, thudding against her side as it dropped, “and I don’t know, Summer...I never had that. I still don’t.”

It hurt to admit, even to Summer. It hurt because for all Raven’s confidence, for all her strength, she was still so damned  _ scared _ , “I  _ try _ , Sum, I really do.” She shook her head, arms hanging limply at her sides, something terrifyingly close to  _ shame _ curling in her, and the voices of their daughters rang in her ears again, “I try and do what I think I have to, and I try and commit and follow through and- and I just don’t  _ know _ .”

She could taste bile in the back of her throat, could still feel Yang’s shoulder bumping past her, still feel the sting of  _ years _ \- “You fought for this- this  _ idea _ about helping people, and…look where it got you!” She shouted suddenly, her hand gesturing accusingly at the stone slab, “You’re in the g-ground and  _ I’m _ the one still alive! That, that means  _ my _ way was right,” a thumb came back to jab with faux-confidence at her sternum, “that mean  _ I _ chose the right path, that means  _ this  _ is that way we are supposed to live…” but she couldn’t ignore the tears that rolled down her cheeks anymore, and her voice turned up, went high, and her head quirked to the side as she begged for an answer, some kind of reassurance “... _ right? _ ”

Her voice wavered, and she  _ hated _ how unsure she sounded, how  _ weak _ . Anger buried it, and a part of her hardened, “The strong live, and the weak  _ die _ ,” she said, eyes screwing shut and hands balling into fists at her side, trying so hard to believe her mantra, “I-I’m strong, I have to be. I survived, I lived, and you d-didn’t. Which means I was better.”

_ “You don’t know the  _ **_first thing_ ** _ about strength!” _

Something almost like a growl burned the back of her throat, and she took an aggressive step forward, eyes snapping back to the small granite monument with anger and accusation, though Raven wasn’t sure who she was accusing, “Then  _ why _ do I feel so much... _ less _ than you?!” she screamed, her voice echoing over the waves. “ _ Why _ did you have to…” she made a strangled noise in her throat, choking the words before she could say them. Admit them.

She shifted gears, shoving everything away until it was as long-distance as she could make it. She breathed deeply for several seconds, feeling the snarl on her lips fade into something closer to a calm detachment. Forcing herself to let go, like she had so many other times. Let go of everything. Slowly, she felt the tension slip off of her shoulders, felt her anger retreat back into the bottle she kept it in. Suppressed, silenced.

“I guess...we should probably catch up, yeah? I don’t know how much you can see from...wherever you are,” she forced out, trying to make her voice sound casual, as if she hadn’t just been screaming. Like she was talking to an old friend on any normal day, not talking to Summer’s grave, and not...not today. Her fingers intertwined in front of her, as she explained a bit awkwardly, “I’m...uh, the Spring Maiden now. I know, for as heavy as everything got, you always thought the magic stuff Ozpin showed us was so cool.”

The memory brought a smile to her face. The  _ look _ on Summer’s face the first time her and Qrow turned into birds...she’d never forget it for as long as she lived. As for Tai’s jokes about their names, well, she’d never be  _ able _ to forget those.

One of her hands slid up to grip her forearm, forcing through an awkward energy to keep herself talking and not thinking, “I fought another person with these powers, earlier today. You would have thought it was really cool, too, I think. We uh, shot fire at each other for a while… I might have killed her, I’m not sure, but she was…I don't think you would have liked her. She was ‘mean’,” Raven couldn’t help but snort at the juvenile word, one of Summer’s favourites, “kinda like me, actually, but really pompous and self-important. You’d probably still try and find something to like about her, but it would have been tough even for you.”

The grave didn’t say anything in return, but the wind continued to blow and the world continued to turn. 

Raven’s smile was short lived in the silence where a witty-but-hopeful retort should have been.

Her tongue wet her lips, her eyes glancing away from the too-familiar emblem. Her fingers found the seams of her fingerless gloves and worried over them nervously, “I...I fucked up, Summer. I did something real bad.”

Her throat swelled again, but if she couldn’t even admit what she knew to be true to  _ Summer _ , what kind of coward was she? She smiled, somehow, but it was far from happy. An absurd mix of fond warmth and bitter,  _ bitter _ regret. The one emotion she told herself she would never feel.

“I met our daughters. Mine and Tai’s...yours and Tai’s too.”

Her smile didn’t leave, but the tears came back. Summer’s emblem burned into her mind. “Your kid stole your emblem, you know? She, uh, has this silver brooch she uses to hold her cloak in place. Oh! She has a cloak too, but you...probably knew that. This big red one.” A laugh - wet-sounding with tears, but a laugh nonetheless - broke her sentence, “It looks a lot better than that gaudy white one you wore.”

Her laugh continued, grew delirious, “You- you remember that time Tai did our laundry, back at Beacon? The time he- he threw your cloak in with my stuff-” she snickered even as she cried harder, pointing at the stone, “And- and, your precious cloak came out of the wash  _ pink? _ ” She howled with laughter at the bittersweet memory, “Oh you were so adorable, trying to look all mean and angry at him in this bubblegum-colored cape and hood,  _ brothers _ , I’m sorry for laughing at you, but it was so  _ funny _ .”

Several long seconds passed where no laughter rose to meet Raven's. Her mirth dulled a bit, but the hurt stayed. Slowly, her unaccompanied laughter fell to silence. Her lips pressed thin, and the only sounds were gullcalls and the waves and wind. “I miss us,” she found herself saying tenderly, the one thing she always refused to say, “Remember? Team STRQ, best team in Beacon…No one could beat us…?” She tried for a smile, searching for a scrap of the pride they’d shared for their Team back in school, their record in the colosseum, unbroken, undefeated,  _ unbeaten _ .

…

But someone had beaten Summer.

Raven’s smile disappeared, and she heaved a sigh, “I always told myself I wouldn’t have any regrets. I’d make the best decisions I possibly could, and I would stand by them knowing that, if the other option really _was_ the better one, I would have picked that one instead.” Her heart quaked, and she couldn’t deny that it _was_ regret she felt. So _many_ regrets, but the greatest among them she whispered with a harsh edge, “I should have _been_ _there_.”

She had been off in Mistral, running wild with the great Branwen Bandit Clan. Fighting her way to the chiefdom, riding the wave of her ambition and reveling in the thrill of conquest far, far away from Ozpin’s unwinnable fight against Salem.

She’d been half drunk, staggering back to her tent to count out her share of the Clan’s most recent take, the sound of merriment and celebration around the bonfire left behind for a moment of peace and quiet to bask in her success. That’s when she’d felt it, almost-nothing, but a quiet  _ snap _ deep within herself. She hadn’t known what it was, at first, the feeling unfamiliar and vague, but it had filled her with a sense of dread unlike anything she’d ever felt. It had felt like something broke, in her Aura. 

It rode her for weeks after. Nagging every thought, killing every smile. Eventually, it became enough that she thought ‘screw it’ and grabbed hold of her semblance. It’d be awkward, it’d be uncomfortable, but she had to get rid of this goddamned nagging-

Her semblance failed. 

_ What? _

She’d tried again, with the same result. The portal squirmed and writhed as she willed it into existence before sputtering out. 

She couldn’t connect to Summer.

It was absurd, her semblance had  _ never _ failed to reach someone before. Not someone alive anyway, but Summer was one of the strongest people Raven knew, she couldn’t-

Certainly not, there was just...something new going on. Something wrong with her semblance. Raven forced herself to focus on Qrow and try again.

The portal had opened as easy as it ever had.

She’d stepped through, and found herself in Qrow’s tiny apartment in Vale. The blinds were shut and the lights were off, but there was her brother on his ratty old couch.

A bottle was in his hand, and several more at his feet and scattered around the room. More than one shattered. The stench of cheap liquor soaked into the carpet.

“Where is she?!” she could still remember asking, still feel the words on her lips but not really hearing them, a fear the likes of which she’d never felt before soaking down to her very  _ bones _ .

Qrow’s words were barely parsable in their alcohol-induced slur, but Raven heard them crystal-clear.

“She’s  _ dead _ , Raven. Been d-dead for three weeks, funeral was last Sunday, thanks for c-checking in.”

The wind blew in Raven’s face, cooling the tears that poured down her cheeks. Regret, anger,  _ guilt _ , all together as she spat, “Why couldn’t you have just let it  _ go?” _ She shook her head, the heels of her palms grinding into her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see Summer’s grave, “Why did you have to keep pushing, you could have  _ ran _ , you could have had a  _ life _ , but no! You just had to-” a hiccup interrupted her tirade, hot tears spilling down onto the dirt that separated them, “You just  _ had  _ to keep fighting Salem, had to go off and be the- the fucking  _ Hero _ .”

Her head hung and her arms fell limply to her sides, dread spilling from her lips with her confession, one she’d harboured in secret for  _ far _ too many years, “I should have been there. It should have been  _ me _ .”

She sneered, and swung her foot into a small stone next to Summer’s grave, kicking it off the cliff and into the sea, “You had kids to raise, a family back on this stupid island, so much  _ good _ still to do, and-” she hiccuped again, ”-what did I have? A group of cutthroats to run around with? A bottle of saké and my fucking tent? Why am  _ I _ the one who gets to-” She cut herself off with a growl and grit teeth, unwilling to speak the words she felt, even if she knew them to be true. Instead, she looked at the grave and reiterated, “It should be  _ my name _ on that rock, Summer.”

She took a deep, steadying breath, finding her feet again and trying to calm down, if only a little. A memory flashed behind her eyes, just a few short hours old, and she breathed a shuddering breath, “Gods, you should have seen her. Your daughter looks just like you,  _ acts  _ so much like you.” Her eyes slipped closed, crimson hidden away but pain naked on her face, “But mine? You should have heard Yang in that fucking vault, Summer.”

_ “Who do you think you are, lecturing me?! Standing there, shaking like a scared little girl?!” Raven screamed, the words so eerily similar to ones she’d said to someone else, many years before. _

_ Yang shouted back, boldness in her voice overshadowing the fear behind it, “Yeah, I'm scared. But I'm still standing here!” She’d taken a step forward, back straight and proud, a glow in her eyes Raven had seen too-many times before, “I'm not like you, I  _ **_won't_ ** _ run.” _

_ For a second, Raven saw silver eyes and a white hood, a determination so similar in the lilac of Yang’s. _

_ “Which is why you’re going to give me the Relic.” _

_ “And  _ why _ would I-” _

_ Yang cut her off, a scream fueled by anger and betrayal and this...burning passion Raven knew couldn’t have come from her, could  _ never _ have come from her. Yang’s voice nearly tore with her shout, “ _ **_Because you’re afraid of Salem!_ ** _ ” Her one arm jutted forward, pointing squarely at Raven, “And if you thought having Maiden powers put a target on your back,  _ imagine  _ what she'll do when she finds out you have a Relic.” _

_ It was too familiar, too true. Raven should have fired back, should have lashed out. She  _ knew _ that, but...she could never do anything against that voice, not against Su- _

_ She forced her eyes away, pushing at the memories as hard as she could even as her daughter advanced forward. _

_ Yang’s words cut through her memories, a truth Raven knew, but didn’t want to acknowledge, “She’ll come after you with  _ everything _ she has…” _

_ Yang was right, and Raven already knew she could do nothing against that witch, Salem. She needed to make a decision again. There had to be some way out of this situation, some way that saved her skin, some way that kept her breathing a little longer. It clicked, and a dread pooled in her stomach like liquid rot. She knew what Yang was going to say before she even said it. _

_ “...Or, she can come after  _ **_me_ ** _.” _

_ Her eyes snapped back to her daughter, with her fist balled at her side and her chin out, the picture of strength, resilience, tenacity. Everything Raven had wanted her to be, but...something else, too. Something Raven could never have dreamed of. She seemed to glow with a determination like Raven had never known within herself. She had Raven’s strength, her stubbornness. She had Tai’s softheartedness, his way with words, his lessons and his upbringing. But that wasn't it. No, there was more in her. The rest of her,  _ **_most_ ** _ of her, came from somewhere else. _

_ “And I'll be standing there, waiting for her,” Yang said, with that all-too-familiar single-minded bravery. _

_ It hurt, because Raven knew the moment she heard it pass Yang’s lips, that she was going to take that path. It was the only one that guaranteed her survival, the only one that kept her safe. Even as bile rose in her throat and the thought revolted her, there was no question. Salem would chew Yang up, kill all of them. It was the fate of whoever stood between her and those twice-damned relics, and Raven was going to let Yang take the accursed thing. She was going to let her Daughter take that bullet for her, and she knew it-- they  _ both _ knew it. _

_ The revulsion Raven felt with herself would haunt her until the day she died, “You don’t want to do this,  _ _ Summer. _ _ ” _

_ Summer looked back at her, “Nope. But I’m gonna do it anyway.” _

_ Her mask, the one underneath her face, slipped and fell away, and for a moment, Raven was just as weak as she ever was, “I...I’m sorry…” _

_ Summer didn’t look back, stared ahead into what would likely be her death, “...Yeah, me too.” _

_ A portal opened, almost of its own volition, and Raven made the same mistake she made all those years ago. _

_ She  _ **_left_ ** _.  _

“S-she sounded just like you,” Raven cried, her hand coming up to cover her mouth, a sob following the admission. There was no anger in her tears, no attempts to swing her sadness into another, more dignified emotion. Raven simply, purely,  _ wept _ . “Not like Tai, not like me,” a sob split the sentence, “ _ You _ , Summer.”

She almost laughed, at the absurdity of it all, “Was I  _ ever _ really her mother?” The heel of her palm wiped at her face, and she sniffed, something thick and miserable in her chest. Seasalt filled her lungs alongside her tears, and the waves crashing against the cliff face cried with her.

A minute passed, where the only sounds came from Raven and from Nature-- maybe from Summer, the two were indistinguishable now.

After composing herself a little, she admitted, “I...always envied you, Sum. I think you knew that. I still do, I guess,” as she looked down at the grave. “Not about the being dead bit, I don’t...think I envy that,” she said, suddenly unsure. The thought of dying terrified her to no end, haunted her frequently, but at the same time...she could use a little peace right about now. “You were better than me in just about every way.”

Raven shook her head, clinging to the thread of thought and hoping it carried her away from the yawning pit opening somewhere behind her ribcage, “I mean, what did I have on you? I had better hair, I was taller, and that’s about it.” She threw her hands up in futility, “You were a better fighter, a better leader, you were somehow both nicer _and_ stronger than me. You were better to Tai than I was, you were better to _Qrow_ than I was-- _hell,_ you were better to _me_ than I was.” She shook her head in despair, and she couldn’t bear to look at the grave any longer, “You were a better spouse, and ten times the mother I ever could have been.”

She sucked in a deep breath, looking off to the side, anywhere but the gorgeous sunrise or the cold stone. Inevitability, that’s what it felt like. Like a hook in her heart, like a bullet already fired. With a grim sort of peace, Raven realized that...she couldn’t run from this, from any of this. Not in a way that mattered. 

“Yang Xiao Long,” she tried the name on her tongue, and it felt like it’d been years since she spoke it, “It was  _ just  _ like talking to you, Summer, back when we were teenagers. When you’d get all fired up for some cause or another, rope me into it.” A hand came up, fisted in the cloth of her shirt right over her heart as if it could alleviate the pain twisting her to pieces, “She sounded  _ just _ like you.”

But then, an odd warmth blossomed in her chest, chasing away the misery that had been there before, and that part in her that always hardened in the face of threat turned soft. Raven’s fingers loosened, and deep within herself she let go of something, just a little bit. Her eyes found Summer’s name again, and said quietly, “You would have been  _ so proud _ of her, Summer.”

Then, something shuddered, and her eyes fell closed. A single tear rolled out, different to the rest. It slipped down her cheek and caught the glint of the morning light on it, and with it came a raspy whisper, no louder than the quiet rush of the wind through the leaves but harsh like sandpaper with emotion:

“ **_I_ ** ...was so proud of her.”

She opened her eyes again, and took in the full breadth of the beauty of the scene before her. The sunrise and the purple in the clouds so similar to her Daughter’s eyes and the golden light so similar to her hair. Her lips shook, and her heart trembled, but she spoke anyway even as pride and pain mingled in every crevice of her heart, “ _ Somehow _ , you taught her to be good, to be better, to be…” She didn’t have the word for it, but she wasn’t speaking to the stone anymore. Instead, she spoke to the sunrise - to Summer - and the words came to her, “You taught her not to be  _ me. _ ”

The wind pulled at her hair, danced across her cheeks and dried the tears there.

She shook her head, feeling the sun’s warmth on her skin like Summer’s hands, Summer’s lips. “I hate myself,” she admitted, her heart numb to the truth in that sentence, “I hate feeling this way.” Her hair brushed gently across her shoulders, and she almost cried again at the sensation, “I wasn’t there for her, or for Tai, or for you. I just fucking  _ ran _ , because I was  _ scared _ . Scared of Salem, scared of Ozpin, scared of…”

She saw that bundle of  _ person _ , swaddled in cloth in a Valean hospital, lilac eyes screwed shut as the little baby girl screamed with a volume that could put a gunship to shame. A day no amount of saké or lien could steal from her mind.

“...scared of messing up. Scared of her turning out like I did.”

Raven shook her head, hands falling limply to her sides. She felt something growing, shifting, like the seed of strength or action. It might have once brought hope with it, but now...it was far too late. She’d long since ruined whatever her life could have been. Ruined whatever _their_ _lives_ could have been. Instead, she said all she could, “I _miss_ you, Summer. I know things were always weird between me, you, and Tai. I can't even remember how many times the three of us got together and broke up, in all these different combinations.” She chewed her lip, her heart lurching, her throat tightening. Another confession, one that should have been made twenty years ago, when they were all still alive to hear it, “But I loved you both. I did, I really, _really_ did, and I just...didn’t know what to do with it. I should have told you more. Should have _showed_ you more. Both of you. But instead...”

Her mask found its way back into her hands, and she flipped it around so she could stare through it’s empty eyeholes. She looked at the grotesque facade she wore instead of her face so often, knew how many people it had struck fear into. She’d worn it for years and years, it was her symbol of strength, her sign that she was the strongest member of the Branwen clan, the mark that she was to be Feared. She looked up into the sunlight and, wordlessly, threw the damn thing as hard as she could. She didn’t hear the splash over the waves and the wind.

“...I just left. Like always.”

She sighed, deeply and from the bottom of her heart. She took a step forward, and knelt at the grave. This close, she could see every beautiful imperfection in the stone, and she looked at it the same way she’d once looked into those shining silver eyes. “I’ve made so  _ many _ mistakes, Summer, and I don’t think I can apologize for all of them,” her voice grew tight, and her eyes stung, “And I know I can’t fix any of them, but...I guess what I’m trying to say is…”

Her hand pressed down into the dirt, and she reached down into that well of power she hid away inside of herself. She’d sworn to never use her maiden powers except when she had absolutely no other choice - to avoid Salem’s gaze - but this...she needed to do this, Salem be damned. A fire lit in her eyes as she let magic flow through her arm, as she began to shape her gift, “You were the mother Yang deserved. Leaving her was the biggest mistake I ever made, but at the same time,” sadness swelled in her heart, but she stayed focused on her task, and spoke what she knew was true, “I can’t think of anyone who could have raised her better.”

With a high-pitched note, her stream of magic cut off and the fire curling around her eyes faded to nothing. From the ground rose a small, pristine crystal rose. Beautiful and perfect, like the person Raven made it for.

Another knot formed in her throat, but something warm burned under it, behind the sadness and the regret,  _ pride _ , “You and Tai brought up two wonderful kids, Summer. They’re gonna do a-amazing things.”

She looked up, eyes locking onto that oh-so familiar emblem. She pressed two fingers against her lips, then pressed those two against the center of Summer’s emblem, a fond, pained smile coloring her face, “Thank you, for being there for Yang when I wasn’t.”

But still, that hint of strength, of  _ action _ stayed. A glow Raven had felt a scarce few times in her life. She knew it was too late, knew she couldn’t fix her mistakes, but maybe…

Her heart pounded, her lip quivered, “I...I don’t know if I can be better. I don’t know if it’s too late, or if I’ve done too much harm, but...but I’m gonna try, okay?” her vision fogged with tears, but she  _ tried _ , she tried so  **_hard_ ** for even a hint of the conviction - the  _ strength _ \- she’d heard in Yang’s voice, “I don’t know what I’m gonna do, but I’m gonna try...for you and for Tai and for Qrow and...for our daughters. Especially for them”

She stood, slowly, unsteadily, and looked again at the sunrise. She closed her eyes, and let the warmth bathe her once more, and for a second she could almost feel Summer’s arms around her. She leaned into them, imagined Summer running her fingers over her scars again. Summer never could take the scars away, couldn’t undo what had already been done, but she always...always made Raven feel like there was still a future beyond the past. 

“I love you, Summer Rose, and don’t you ever forget it.”

She sighed, wishing with every fiber of her body, mind, and soul that Summer was still able to say it back. But...the petals scatter, and Raven felt the wind pushing her back the way she’d come. No longer beckoning forward, but instead urging back. Raven let out a shuddering breath, terrified of what she knew she needed to do next but...somehow steeled for it too. “Now, I think I’m gonna try and talk to our husband. I have a feeling he’s gonna have a lot more to say than you, so...wish me luck, okay?”

The wind kissed her cheeks, and blew her back toward the Xiao Long household.

She turned and began the long, long walk back. Unsure, afraid.

Fear gripped her heart. She could still run, still go back to Mistral. She still had time to gather up the clan and go into hiding again. She thought of finally facing the life she’d run away from so long ago, the family she’d smothered. She found herself at the end of the clearing, morning sunlight warming her back, and she muttered quietly and under her breath, “You don’t want to do this, Raven.”

The wind was soft, kind against her back. Gentle. It couldn’t take her scars away, couldn’t prevent her from getting new ones, but…

No, she didn’t. She didn’t want to talk to Taiyang, didn’t want to see the life she’d killed, didn’t want to face what she’d abandoned. She didn’t want to leave this clearing, head back out into this cruel, terrifying world.

The wind kissed the back of her neck, the same way Summer had, once.

She heard her daughter’s voice echoing in her head. Yang Xiao Long, daughter of Summer Rose and Taiyang Xiao Long. She saw Tai’s eyes, blue like the sky, and the smile she’d refused to admit she’d longed to see for years. There was fear, there was the unknown, but there was also...possibility, that maybe she - Raven Branwen - could be something better. But it didn’t lessen the fear.

No, she didn’t want to do this.

But she was going to, anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> I think I’m pretty happy with how this turned out. Of all my stories, I never expected to put my heart into a Raven character study, but there it is, and somehow I feel a real connection to this piece. Anyways, tell me what you thought of it! Reviews are my lifesblood, and I want to know what you think. Yes, You specifically, Alex.  
> I’ve no idea if anyone named Alex is going to read this, but hey, if that’s your name, now you have even more of a reason to leave a review!  
> Anyways, hope you all have a lovely day.  
> -Order


End file.
